In recent years, it has become practical to replace hip joints by prosthetic joints. This is done by removing the femoral head from a femur, forming a hole into the femur in a direction lengthwise of the femur, inserting into the hole a stem of a prosthesis and cementing the stem in place. A cup of suitable material, such as high density polyethylene, is located in the hip and the prosthesis has a ball which is located in the cup in an attempt to enable the prosthetic joint to simulate the action of a normal hip joint.
During the operation, the greater trochanter is removed from the femur and it is necessary to re-attach the greater trochanter once the prosthesis has been cemented in place. The greater trochanter must be securely located in place to allow bone union to occur and wire is normally used to tie the trochanter in position. However, it has been found that this is not always satisfactory as the wire sometimes slips or fractures.
It is therefore desirable to provide means making it possible to improve the effectiveness of these operations.